Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic 'too gay' for Hollywood

Heath Ledger & Jake Gyllenhaal star in this raw and powerful story brought to the big screen by director Ang Lee. In the summer of 1963, a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy meet while sheep herding in Wyoming and form an unorthodox bond. Though enduring, their secretive relationship is often bitter and conflicted due to its complex nature.

Steven Soderbergh claims his upcoming film 'Behind the Candelabra' was rejected from Hollywood for being ''too gay''.

The Oscar-winning director is set to release his biopic about celebrated pianist Wladziu Valentino Liberace, played by Michael Douglas, and his younger lover Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) later on this year on HBO.

However, Steven has revealed the reason it will air on TV rather than the big screen is because no major company would fund the risqué film - despite the A-list cast and meagre budget.

Speaking to TheWrap from the Television Critics Association winter press tour, Steven said: ''Nobody would make it. We went to everybody in town. We needed $5 million. Nobody would do it.

''They said it was too gay. Everybody. This was after 'Brokeback Mountain', by the way. Which is not as funny as this movie. I was stunned. It made no sense to any of us.''

Steven - whose thriller 'Side Effects' starring Channing Tatum, Jude Law and Rooney Mara is out in cinemas this spring - may not have gained the attention he had hoped for with his Liberace feature, but is pleased it landed a spot on such a popular network.

He added: ''[HBO] are great and they're really good at what they do, and ultimately I think more people will see it, and that's all you care about. Studios were going, 'We don't know how to sell it.' They were scared.''